Two Scenes that take place during Chapter 9 of Back In Black
"Hi Cass, Remus." Sirius brushed the soot from his shirt and jeans. Jack followed a moment later. Remus, dressed in pajamas, a flannel bathrobe and slippers, waved from the counter. Cassius was sitting at the table, watching Remus.
"Hi Cousin." Sirius sat down across from Cassius who didn't answer him. "What's wrong?"
"I'm supposed to be resting," Remus answered. "I rested all day. And as soon as dinner is over, I'll go back to bed."
"We can go." Jack said quickly, taking Sirius's hand.
"Nonsense," Remus waved his hand dismissively. "I have to eat, and I'll enjoy the company."
"If you're worried about him, why aren't you helping?" Sirius asked, pulling Jack down to sit next to him.
"Because he made me sit over here." Cassius answered sullenly.
"I am perfectly capable of warming up enchiladas and making salad." Remus said calmly, but Sirius heard the edge of anger in his voice.
"He was at Saint Mungo's yesterday and this morning, did he tell you that?" Cassius turned black eyes on Sirius.
"No." Sirius said, startled.
"I'm fine now, there's no need to worry."
"You're not fine, you need to be resting. You're not going on any more of these missions for Dumbledore. I forbid it." Cassius said firmly.
"We'll talk about it later." Remus walked slowly over to the table and set the pan of enchiladas down. Sirius stood up quickly.
"I'll get the salad, have a seat, Remus."
"Thank you, Sirius." Remus sank down on the bench next to his mate.
"Why does he get to help?" Cassius asked angrily.
"Because he doesn't treat me like I'm going to break at any moment."
"You are going to break at any moment! You collapsed yesterday!" Cassius ground out.
"And I'm better now." Remus said firmly.
Cassius didn't answer and he didn't say another word for the rest of dinner. It reminded Sirius of visits at Grimmauld Place when he was younger and Cassius had sat silent for hours. Jack didn't seem to notice and Sirius remembered hearing that Cassius didn't talk much at work. Halfway through dinner, after Remus had slid his fingers over Cassius's hand for the third time as he reached for the juice, Cassius stood and they heard him go upstairs.
"Where's he going?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know. He's upset about me being in hospital. He hates it when I'm somewhere he can't get to me. I've been lectured about taking better care of myself five times today." Remus tilted his head, listening.
Footsteps came back downstairs. Cassius entered the kitchen with a quilt in his arms. He silently wrapped it around Remus and then sat back down next to Remus.
"My hand cold?" Remus asked gently. Cassius nodded and picked his fork back up. Remus leaned over slightly and brushed his lips against Cassius's cheek.
"So, you collapsed yesterday?" Sirius asked.
"Yes...I, um, hadn't been eating well when I was on the mission and I met Kingsley to give him the information I gathered and I fainted. He took me to St Mungo's." Remus answered. "And the healer I normally see wasn't there so they kept me overnight for observation."
"You need to eat." Sirius said sternly.
"I know. I thought I could get away with skipping a meal…or two. But I still haven't recovered from being sick before Christmas."
The meal was soon over and Sirius and Jack went back to Grimmauld Place. Cassius picked up Remus without a word and carried him up the stairs.
"Are you going to talk to me now?" Remus asked as Cassius set him on the bed. "Sam put a note in my chart so that if he's not there when I'm brought in again they'll summon him right away. So then I won't be kept there overnight."
"You won't be going there again."
"No, of course I won't be." Remus said quickly, reaching for his mate's hands. "Rest with me?"
"No." Cassius said quietly, tucking Remus into bed, and left without another word.
Remus sighed, closing his eyes. He woke up some time later in Cassius's arms. He looked at the clock on the beside table, it was near midnight. He turned to face his mate and kissed his neck.
"When'd you come to bed?"
"Just now."
"You need your sleep too." Remus said lightly.
"You need to eat properly."
"I know." Remus said with a sigh. "I did hear all your lectures today."
"And you won't go on any more missions."
"The Order needs my help."
"It's just…I promised I'd keep us both alive."
"And I've been making that promise more difficult to keep." Remus said, suddenly understanding. "All right. No more missions. And I'll eat properly from now on."
"Good."
"Scariest movie you ever saw?" Sirius asked, shaking his black hair back from his face.
"'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'" Cassius answered promptly.
"What?" Jack's mouth dropped open in surprise.
"He nearly broke all the bones in my hand, he gripped it so tightly." Stevens laughed. "And walking out of the theatre, with the big, scary auror here still hanging on to my hand, we saw this girl I was dating at the time. She was convinced I'd lied to her about never being involved with Cassie. Broke up with me right there."
"She was a cow anyway." Cassius shrugged, "Clara's a million gazillion times better."
"Thanks, Cassie." Clara smiled.
"And, anyway, it's really scary!" Cassius said defensively.
"What happens?" Sirius asked.
"Hold on." Stevens said. Cassius clapped his hands over his ears and at almost the same time, Remus and Stevens covered Cassius's ears also.
"He can't listen." Clara explained, reaching for a tortilla chip on the table.
"He…it really scared him?" Jack asked incredulously.
"Yeah, he had nightmares about that cute little shoe being killed, " Remus said. "There's this cartoon shoe, only in the movie cartoons are really real and there's this liquid and it kills cartoons. It's really rather disturbing and apparently rather like something that happened when Cass was little…And Judge Doom reminded him of Voldemort. It's this character with no hair and beady red eyes."
"He's actually seen Voldemort?" Jack asked.
"Voldemort's his godfather." Remus removed his hands from Cassius's ears as did Stevens. He pulled one of Cassius's hand down. "We're done talking about the movie, sweetheart."
"Voldemort's your godfather?" Jack asked.
"He and Father were best friends at school. No Death Eater will kill me, because I'm the Dark Lord's godson. It's really quite an honor." Cassius said sarcastically.
"Wow." Jack's voice was a mingle of horror and amazement.
"He used to come for dinners and stuff. They used to be in the basement for hours working on spells and potions." Cassius shrugged.
"Were they involved?" Sirius asked. Uncle Malfoy had been sinister and very handsome, like all the Malfoys. Maybe that was the combination of what Voldemort looked for in a boyfriend.
"Ugh! No! Father didn't like men and, anyway, he had taste." Cassius said arrogantly.
"You're so weird." Remus shook his head affectionately.
"So…what types of things did they do together then?"
"They formed the Death Eaters. Father helped Voldemort with all the spells that made him immortal." Cassius started to chew his fingers. "I remember being little, sitting on Father's lap while he read, tracing over the mark on his arm. I thought it was pretty. One of my first memories is the night that Luke got the mark. I was five. Father and Voldemort loved dark magic but they disagreed about stuff. Voldemort believes in fate, divination, prophesies, all that crap. Father didn't, he told Luke and me not to believe in it either."
Remus gently pulled Cassius's hand away from his mouth.
"Voldemort always used to tell Father that fate ordained he only have one child because Agnalthea died when she had Luke. They did all sorts of tea readings and card readings and everything said he would only have one son but Father still wanted another. Father said he was in control of his destiny. He always said 'Cassius, there is no fate, I proved that when you were born.'" Cassius's voice became deeper and colder as he imitated his father.
"Wow. Shit. I wish you talked more at work. That is…wow." Jack stared at Cassius in astonishment. Cassius shrugged.
"Owen took Divination and made Cassie help him with all his projects. Drove Cassie mad." Stevens laughed at the memory.
"Well, it's complete rubbish. Didn't predict Owen's death, did it? He was supposed to live to be seventy three according to that palm reading he did sixth year." Cassius snapped and the smile vanished from Stevens' face. Remus reached over and took Cassius's hand.
"I guess that proves there was one thing that Julius was right about." Remus said lightly. "He's probably ice skating in hell right now." Stevens smiled gratefully at Remus.
"Maybe not…Owen was horrible at Divination." Cassius muttered as he slung his arm around Stevens's shoulders and knocked their heads together gently.
"That's true enough. Remember when he predicted that Zabini would kiss McGonagall the night of the Halloween Ball our fifth year?"
Cassius laughed. "Zabini was horrified. He drank almost a whole bottle of fire whiskey and ended up snogging…some Hufflepuff…what was his name?"
"Oh…Merlin…." Stevens furrowed his brow as he tried to think.
"Oh, I remember that…it was right in front of everyone! Who was that?" Clara cried out. "He looked a lot like McGonagall, actually…Oh….I remember! Tad Smythe."
"Smythe! That's right. We teased Zabini about that for months. How could we forget that?" Stevens asked Cassius.
"I have an excuse, I don't know why you didn't remember it." Cassius smirked.
"So you two never did anything?" Jack asked as Stevens stretched his legs out, Cassius's arm still around his shoulder.
"What? No!" They both yelled, swiftly separating from each other. Clara and Remus started laughing, they had both admitted to each other the attractiveness of their partners. Once they had even joked about how hot it would be if Cassius and Stevens actually did start kissing during one of their wrestling matches.
"Although he did have wet dreams about me his whole third year."
"I. Did. Not." Cassius protested, his face turning red.
"You did."
"Did not!" Cassius shouted.
"Owen told me you did." Stevens crossed his arms across his chest and stared at Cassius.
"That's. Not. Fair! Owen wasn't supposed to tell! And….and…I wasn't allowed to do silencing spells!"
"So you admit you fantasized about me."
"I admit nothing." Cassius said, recovering his Malfoy voice with obvious effort.
"Regardless, Jack, no, we've never done anything. Not even when we've been drunk…at least not that I remember. And I only blacked out once and that was after Cassie mated with Remus so I know nothing happened."
"So you can only have sex with each other?" Jack asked Remus.
"Duh! Werewolf bond." Cassius said.
"I have, on occasion, imagined it was someone else, though." Remus said solemnly.
"What?" Cassius turned to him. "Who?"
"Gilderoy Lockhart." Remus managed to keep a straight face for only a moment more before bursting out in laughter followed quickly by Stevens and Clara.